Teenage inventors take centre stage at Maker Faire Rome

When Joe Hudy was
14 he helped the President of the United States fire a marshmallow
gun. It's likely no one else can say that, but this teen is clearly
just getting started in the weird and wonderful world of
making.

Now 16, he came along to the Maker Faire in Rome to
share a few pearls of wisdom with the audience, advising: "A
soldering iron is definitely a good tool to have. And have an
arduino, it will help you along your future projects. You need to
have a workshop, good suppliers and tools. A hacker space is a good
space to have as a maker."

He's currently perfecting his DIY full body 3D
scanner. When the presenter at the Faire queried if he'd really
already made one, Hudy quipped, "Yeah, it's easy -- just use Kinect
sensor and plug it into your computer and scan yourself,"
solidifying the fact in everyone's mind, that this kid was indeed
truly awesome.

According to Hudy's blog, he still
has a few dreams left to accomplish though. After noting, "I
have tried to do karate, soccer, baseball, tennis, but none of them
I am good at or completely like. The only thing I am good at is
making things, I am ok at archery though and I like it," he goes on
to list building a Tesla Coil and shooting his Marshmallow Cannon
with Ellen (Degeneres) as two of his goals.

Hudy was not at the Faire simply to put an audience
largely made up of adults to shame with his impressive CV. Perhaps
more importantly, he was there to explain that making is not just
fun, inventive and totally doable no matter your background -- it
can also change your life.

"I was a maker before I even knew I was a maker. I
was building rockets out of soda bottles and chairs out of
cardboard.

"For my 13th birthday I got tickets to a Maker Faire
and I fit in really well there. I didn't have any friends before
the Faire. I would talk about soldering and stuff like that, which
people didn't seem interested in. Then suddenly I met all these
people that talk about the same things I did. It's done wonders for
me, and can do the same for you. So don't be bored, make
something."

It was the same sentiment extolled by another young
well known maker later in the day, Jack
Andraka. Andraka won the the grand
prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for
his pancreatic cancer test in 2012, aged 15. The test is,
remarkably 26,000 times cheaper than the standard test, 400 times
more sensitive and, so far, 100 percent accurate and ideal for
early stage tests. Put simply, it is likely to be a life-saving
invention once approved.

According to Andraka though,
this was all after seven months spent screwing up every lab test
imaginable -- and after he found out where the pancreas was in the
body.

"You don't have to be a genius to have ideas of
value," he said. "You can be a 15-year-old with a dream like me. If
someone who didn't know where the pancreas was could achieve this,
just imagine what you could do."